Saturday X-tra X-Sheet: 16

Rates of Reaction
Key Concepts

In this session we will focus on summarising what you need to know about:

• Terminology and Collision Theory

• Definition of Rate
• Factors affecting Rate
• Graphs

Terminology & definitions

Reacting atoms, molecules and ions should have sufficient energy, and must be
oriented correctly.
Electrons must be rearranged properly to form new bonds.
Rate is usually measured in mol.s-1.

Rate = Change in mass

Change in Time

The unit of measurement in this case will be grams per second (g·s-1).

X-planation of key concepts and terminology

In any gas or liquid the particles are in total random motion in all directions with a huge
range of kinetic energies. At room temperature there are about 1028 particle collisions
per cm3 every second which means on average an individual particle undergoes over
109 (1000 million) collisions per second. These collisions cause a chemical reaction to
take place.

In order to measure the rate of a reaction, we can either measure how fast reactants are
used up or how fast products are formed. For example, if a solid is being used during
the reaction then the rate of reaction (average rate) can be determined by measuring
the number of moles of solid being used up per unit time. This can be written as an
equation:

average rate number of moles of solid used up

= time taken for the reaction

If the product is a gas, then the number of moles of gas formed per unit time can be
used to determine the rate of the reaction. This can also be written as an equation:

number of moles of gas formed

average rate =
time taken for the reaction

As a chemical reaction proceeds, the concentrations of both the reactants and the
products will change as the reactants are being used up and products are being formed.
The rate of a reaction can also be given in terms of the concentration. The rate is then
defined as the change in the concentration of one of the reactants or products in unit
time.
Factors that affect the rate of reactions

Concentration: an increase in concentration means there are more particles in a given

space. More particles means there will be more collisions between the reactant particles
per second. This should increase the reaction rate.
Surface area: when one of the reactants is a solid, the reaction can only take place at
the surface of the solid. Breaking the solid into smaller pieces will increase the surface
area exposed to the other reactant. This should increase the reaction rate.
Temperature: since temperature is a measure of the motion of particles, increasing the
temperature will cause the particles to move faster. When particles move faster, more
collisions occur and the collisions are more violent. This should increase the reaction
rate.
Catalysts: catalysts are substances that change the rate of a chemical reaction without
being changed in the reaction. Catalysts are most often used to speed up a chemical
reaction. They do this by lowering the activation energy Ea needed between the
reactants and the formation of the products. If the activation energy can be reduced, the
reaction rate should increase.

Reaction Rates and Graphs

If we consider a general reaction A →B, we can plot the concentration [A] against the
time.

The fact that the graph is not a straight line, tells us that the rate of the reaction changes
with time.
If we look at the slope of the graph, we find that initially the slope is steep, thus the
change in concentration per second is large. If we look at the end part of the graph, the
slope is gentle, thus the change in the concentration per second is small. The steepest
part is at the beginning of the reaction.
When a gas is formed from a solid reacting with a solution, it can be collected in a gas
syringe. The initial gradient of the graph, e.g. in cm3/min, gives an accurate measure of
how fast the gaseous product is being formed. If the reaction is allowed to go on, you
can measure the final maximum volume of gas and the time at which the reaction stops.
Examples of reactions using this method:
• metals dissolving in acid (hydrogen gas),
• carbonates dissolving in acids (carbon dioxide gas) and
• the catalytic decomposition of hydrogen peroxide manganese to form oxygen gas

X-ample 1

The following reaction takes place:

4Li + O2 → 2LiO2

After 2 minutes, 4g of lithium has been used up. Calculate the rate of reaction in mol·s-1.

X-ample 2

Which one of the following would not change the rate of a chemical reaction?

A a change in the amount of reactants.

B a change in the temperature of the reactants.
C a change in the surface area of reactants exposed.
D a change in the concentration of the reactants.

X-ample 3
5g zinc granules are added to 400 cm3 of 0,5 mol·dm-3 hydrochloric acid. To investigate
the rate of reaction, the change in the mass of the open flask containing the zinc and
the acid, was measured by placing the flask on a mass balance.
The readings collected show that there is a decrease in mass during the reaction. The
reaction which takes place is given by the following equation:
Zn (s) + 2HCl (aq) → ZnCl2 (aq) + H2 (g)
(a) Why is there a decrease in mass during the reaction?
(b) The experiment is repeated, this time using 5g of powdered zinc instead of
granulated zinc. How will this change the rate of reaction? Explain your answer
fully?
(c) The experiment is repeated once more, this time using 5g granulated zinc and
600 cm3 of 0,5 mol·dm-3 hydrochloric acid. How does the rate of this reaction
compare to the original reaction rate?
X-ample 4
A group of learners wish to investigate the effect concentration has on the reaction of
calcium carbonate and hydrochloric acid. They collect the following apparatus and
chemicals for their investigation:
Large Calcium carbonate chips Stop Watch
Small calcium carbonate chips Measuring Cylinder
Powdered calcium carbonate 2- holed stoppered flask
2.0 M Hydrochloric acid Large beaker
1.0 M Hydrochloric acid Burette
0.1 M Hydrochloric acid Thermometer
Scale Spirit burner
Gas syringe
(a) What apparatus should they select to investigate the effect of concentration?
(b) List the steps they should follow for this investigation.
(c) After collecting one set of data for this experiment, one learner suggests that
they use powdered calcium carbonate rather than chips. Is this a good idea?
Explain your answer.
(d) Draw sketch graphs comparing the rate of reaction when calcium carbonate
reacts with:
i. 50cm3 of 0.1M HCl at 25ºC
50cm3 of 2.0M HCl at 25ºC
ii. 100cm3 of 1,0M HCl at 25ºC
50cm3 of 1,0M HCl at 25ºC
X-ercise

1 Calculate the average rate of reaction if it takes 17s to produce 48 moles of

carbon dioxide from wood.

2 A 5 g piece of zinc of which the surface had not been cleaned, is added to an
excess of 1 mol.dm–3 dilute hydrochloric acid at room temperature. The volume of
hydrogen gas produced is measured at regular intervals. A sketch graph
representing the total volume of hydrogen gas produced as a function of time is
given below:

2.1 What does the slope of the graph represent?

2.2 Explain why the graph becomes flat after t3.
2.3 The experiment was repeated three times, each time changing one of the
conditions. Graphs with a similar shape to the one shown in the sketch
were obtained, although the total volume of H2 and the slope of the graph
were different in some cases.
Complete the table by writing down the question number and next to it
only INCREASES, DECREASES or STAYS THE SAME.

Effect of the change on Effect of the change on

Applied change the volume of H2 gas the slope between t1
produced and t2
5 g of powdered Zn is
2.3.1 2.3.2
used
2 moldm–3 HCℓ is used 2.3.3 2.3.4
A catalyst is used 2.3.5 2.3.6

3 Catalytic converters

The number of cars on South African roads increases annually and, as a result,
so does air pollution. Besides the non-toxic gases nitrogen, water vapour and
carbon dioxide, car exhaust fumes also contain harmful components, i.e. carbon
monoxide, nitrogen oxides (NO and NO2) and unreacted hydrocarbons (CxHy).
Nitrogen oxides and unreacted hydrocarbons contribute to the formation of smog.
Do more research on catalytic converters and answer the following questions:

3.1 Why are catalysts that are used in catalytic converters, known as
heterogeneous catalysts?
3.2 The reduction catalyst converts NO(g) and NO2(g) into nitrogen and oxygen.
Write down balanced equations for this reaction.
3.3 Write a balanced equation for the oxidation of carbon monoxide.
3.4 Catalytic converters are installed fairly close to the engine. Give a reason for
this.
3.5 Draw a table and in it indicate all the gases that are present in the exhaust
system of a car. In a second column for each of the gases, what dangers, if any,
they hold for people and the environment.

Answers
1. Average rate of reaction = 2,82 mol.s-1

2.1 Rate of reaction: Volume of hydrogen formed per unit time

2.2 The reaction is complete
2.3.1 same 2.3.2 increase
2.3.3 same 2.3.4 increase
2.3.5 same 2.3.6 increase

3.1 The phase of the catalyst is different to the phase of the reactants
3.2 2NO + 2NO2
2N2 + 3O2
3.3 2CO + O2
2CO2
3.4 Catalytic converters are more efficient at higher temperatures. The mixture of
gases is hotter closer to the engine.
3.5

Gases present in exhaust system Environmental dangers

Oxides of nitrogen Contributes to global warming and acid rain.
NO, NO2, NOx Major contributor to smog. Can damage
respiratory system.
Hydrocarbons Benzene is a cancer causing toxin in exhaust
fumes
Carbon monoxide Poisonous - can cause death if levels in lungs
and blood stream increase.